bstein14 wrote:cgf wrote:bstein14 wrote:
The Knicks have lots of key players in their primes or on the decline. Rose and Randle aren't getting better. Fournier isn't still getting better. I think the Knicks do have some room to climb the next few years but I don't think they've got a top end talent like Cade at the moment who I'd expect to be an all-star by year 3 at the latest.
…the Knicks have 4 players over 24yo; Brunson (25), Randle (26), Fournier (29), and Rose (33).
Is that a lot of key players in their prime? Or would it be more accurate to say that two key players have entered their primes? Given that Rose is a bench guy when healthy and the FO has been trying to dump Fournier for free since before the TDL…
Knicks don’t have a Cade and even though they have the ammo to trade for one & this FO has shown good patience so far, the franchise hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt on getting the right guy or paying the right price.
So I think it’s fair to expect Detroit to take a leap that we probably won’t, until that #1 option trade happens…but the Knicks are young team with just two key players in the early stages of their primes.
Rose has often looked like your best player since you've traded for him. He had by far the best +/- on the team two years ago, and he had the best +/- on the team again last season. It's hard to say how much he falls off since he missed so much time his body might not be as worn out as it should be for his age and he could keep playing late into his 30s like Grant Hill did, but we'll have to wait and see.
When healthy Rose has been very important to us and his injury last season was when the wheels came off. But a) though very important, he was never our best player, and b) his fragility is why we can’t rely on him as a key player.
That’s why Quickley had to learn to be more of a PG last season; something that started to click for him in the back half of the season. It’s also why our FO just made Jalen Brunson the 14th highest paid PG in the NBA.
They did that so that anything Rose gives us on the court can be a bonus, not one of the essential-ingredients that we fall apart without.